I had the opportunity to liberate a few nations in my French grand campaign, however I elected against it. I have no idea why, and this goes for other strategy games of the sort (like EUIII) as well, but a disconnected empire is no empire in my eyes. Hannover, for example, is surrounded on all sides by other nations, and so is Innsbruck, Prague and Munich in my game. It just feels... incomplete, if you get what I mean. :P